RAWALPINDI - PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif have filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench requesting it to quash the NAB corruption references filed against them and their family members as illegal, mala fide and without lawful authority. They also pleaded the court to halt the Accountability Court for taking any action on these references till the final disposal of the petition. Sharifs filed the writ petition through their counsel Akram Sheikh Advocate making the Federation of Pakistan through its Secretary of Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, NAB through its Chairman and Judge of Accountability Court (AC) Rawalpindi Number 4 as respondents. The Divisional Bench of LHC comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan and Justice Abdul Waheed Khan will take up the case today. In the petition, the Nawaz League stalwarts pleaded that the re-opening of proceedings under the Impugned Reference by two separate political regimes (General Musharrafs and then the PPP-Ps regime) at strategic times established the malice and bad faith of the respondents in continuing with the impugned reference, which even otherwise was without jurisdiction. They stated that the continuation of the reference would amount to an abuse of process of law. They mentioned that the very exercise of filing reference by General Pervaiz Musharraf (in the background of procuring of two other conviction one before filing of Reference and one after, i.e Hijacking case and Helicopter case) was visibly motivated by vendetta, malice and obnoxious designs to prevent petitioners from participating in politics and to oust them from their homeland. They added that the mala fide intention of prosecution could never be clothed with sanctity and vitiates the entire proceedings. It was pertinent to note that ultimately one petitioner Nawaz was acquitted in both the hijacking and the helicopter cases. They pleaded that the record of case may kindly be summoned and examined by the court. They prayed that all the proceedings, investigation and inquiry leading to the filing of the Impugned Reference, and the Impugned Reference initiated by the NAB against the petitioners be declared as illegal, mala fide, without lawful authority and without jurisdiction by this court and, consequently, the Impugned Reference be quashed. They also prayed that during the pendency of the instant petition, further proceedings on the basis of Impugned Reference may kindly be stayed and the respondents be restrained from further harassment of the petitioners on the basis thereof. Any other relief that this court deems fit and proper, under the facts and circumstances of the case may also graciously be allowed to the petitioners, they added in the petition. It merits mentioning here that these references were filed with NAB against Sharif brothers and their family in 2000 during the regime of former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf. At present these references are adjourned sine.die in an Accountability Court (AC) Rawalpindi Number 4. In Hudabia Paper Mills case besides Nawaz, Shehbaz, Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Haroon Pasha and Senator Ishaq Dar are co-accused. The accused were charged with securing huge amount as loan in the name of Hudabia Paper Mills and later using the loan for some other purpose and thus causing huge loss to national exchequer. In Ittefaq Foundry corruption reference, Nawaz, Abbas Sharif, Mukhtar Hassan, Kamal Qureshi and couple of other persons were accused of securing big loans and abusing the loans causing loss of million to the national exchequer. Similarly, in the Assets Reference the accused persons included Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, their father (late) Mian Sharif, mother Shamim Akhtar and other family members. In the reference they were charged with accumulation of huge money and assets beyond their declared means of income by allegedly misusing their authority.